Friday, June 21, 2024

Bad Boys: Ride or Die

 

Bad Boys: Ride or Die

He’s back. This is not Will Smith's first film after the infamous slap but it is his most commercially successful. Reviews are fair to midline. It is a typical Jerry Bruckheimer film, with fast cars and action-packed.  It is what you expect from a film like this. If you enjoyed the other Bad Boys movies this one will fit like a glove.

Along with Smith, as Mike Lowrey,  is his Bad Boy partner Martin Lawerence, Marcus Burnett. Smith and Lawerence continue their well-honed repartee. Lawrence gives a more clowness performance making rubbery faces and foraging for forbidden sweets (he had a heart attack).  Their chemistry is well honed and still fresh.

The plot is paper thin and is used as a frame for the action sequences. The gunfights are relentless accompanied by a high body count. These are John Wick type shots with impossible deadly accuracy. This film is more potty mouth than the others.

 Another consequential character is Lowrey’s son, Armando. He plays a pivotal role but the father and son relationship is a work in progress (see the prior Bad Boys film to understand the paternity). There are many other characters rounding out the cast. Tiffany Haddish is a small time gang leader. To say she was vulgar is an understatement.

There are some genuine chuckles. At best this is a distraction from the summer heat. This movie did heat up the box office which before Bad Boys was anemic.

 

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